TUK: Were the Magisters trying to accomplish anything in particular with what they were doing in Kirkwall, or was it just a convenient location?
DG: It was a convenient location. It wasn't like they created Kirkwall in order to do something sinister, it's that Kirkwall having A) a ready available of sacrifices and B) a very thin Veil, I mean why do they put the Circles of Magi wherever there's a thin Veil? It's really dangerous, but it's sort of a chicken-egg thing. Even if they did build a Circle where there wasn't a thin Veil eventually over time the Veil would thin anyhow. And it happens to be that these are the more magical places, the thinner the Veil is the more magic you have available. It's arguable, you could say 'Well if we want to control mages, maybe we should them in places where there isn't a lot of magic!
TUK: [laughing] That would be too logical.
DG: Yes and no. The thing to remember as well is that the Circles were created to help Thedas as well. We had the Blights, and the first Circles were created shortly after the first Blight. The mages become vitally important when there's a Blight in order to combat the darkspawn. So it wasn't like the Chantry wanted to cripple the mages, they wanted them to have the power they needed to help humanity. But to give on one you lose the other, there's a bit of a conundrum. As to what the Tevinters were up to in Kirkwall, when they realized what they had available, you had some mentions of it in the codex. I don't know whether we'll ever follow up on that story. Ultimately they did not succeed because the slaves eventually rebelled, there was the giant rebellion. What you have left is the remnants of what they were attempting at the time.

A quote from David Gaider on the Dark Ritual:

TUK: Slightly related to that, will we see…some of the big decisions from Origins and Awakenings are do you go through with the Dark Ritual so that Morrigan has a child with an Old God's soul, and the Architect, whether or not you kill him. Will those characters come back later on, or those decisions come back and be relevant in the third game?
DG: When you're talking about decisions that the fans expect to be treated as sacred, the big decisions are the ones that….the small ones, whether a character lives or dies, or smaller side plots and stuff, that seems less important overall, but for the big ones like the Dark Ritual I don't think we can not respect the Dark Ritual. It's going to be tricky, and I think the problem we encounter with some of the big decisions is the level of expectation.

It is incredible that Gaider still toes the party line on this IP. It's moving away from reading and into cinematics. Exact dialog has been replaced by paraphrasing with emoticons. The lead designer thinks that text is a "horrible medium for conveying sarcasm and sincerity". The writing is several tones lower and simpler for the new "wider" teen audience. It's moving from books and into comics and video. Two bit nerd goddesses like Felicia Day are getting in on his act and writing DLCs. The backlash from DA2 means that his royalties from Dragon Age novels/comics is probably lower. The need for speed means that choices and consequences have to be small and insignificant so that all players follow the pre-approved Bio-path. Good to see him still making excuses for all this.

I blame the reviewer that is obviously wearing clownshoes….were you THAT bored that you had to interview someone that was associated with such a terribad game?? Heck, you can come clean my washroom if you're that bored!!!

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I blame the reviewer that is obviously wearing clownshoes….were you THAT bored that you had to interview someone that was associated with such a terribad game?? Heck, you can come clean my washroom if you're that bored!!!

There was no DA2. It ended with Origins. That's my story.

-Carn

That's a beautiful story. If only it were true. We could still be eagerly awaiting a proper da 2.

Dragon Age has a lot of interesting lore. Both Origins and the books were quite good, showing a fairly interesting setting. However, there's no denying DA2 did not come close to Origins in pretty much every other aspect, so I hope they rectify that in DA3.

It would be a shame if such a promising setting went down the drain because they rushed their games.

David, the problems with resolution of DA's large-scale plotline are of your making, and as lead writer they are yours to solve. Yes, of course fans have an "expectation" that their story choices in one game will be reflected in the sequel, when the other big game series at your own company is successfully achieving exactly that.

You had five years to plan the overall direction of DA before Origins, and you must have had a pretty strong idea that there would be a sequel. Planning for plot progression should have been part of your work at that stage. If you find yourself in a corner now, it's because you didn't think ahead.

Yes, the rpg fan community is weird and crochety and often pointlessly spiteful, but putting off criticism of your own work on "oh those fans and their expections" doesn't make you look good.